title: 2-(2-Methyl-benzo-yl)benzoic acid: catemeric hydrogen bonding in a γ-keto acid.
abstract: The crystal structure of the title compound, C15H12O3, displays catemeric aggregation involving O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds progressing from the carboxyl group of one mol-ecule to the ketone O atom of another glide-related neighbor. The mol-ecule is twisted, with the toluene 80.61 (3)° out of plane with respect to the phenyl group of the benzoic acid. The acid group makes a dihedral angle of 13.79 (14)° with the attached phenyl ring. The mol-ecules are achiral, but the space group glide planes create alternating conformational chirality in the chain units. The four hydrogen-bonding chains progress along [001] in an A-A-B-B pattern (right-to-left versus left-to-right), and are related to each other by the center of symmetry at (0.5, 0.5, 0.5) in the chosen cell. There is one close contact (2.54 Å) between a phenyl H atom and the acid carbonyl from a symmetry-related mol-ecule.
authors.affiliation: Carl A. Olson Memorial Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102 , USA.
authors.forename: Natalia A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Platosz
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lalancette
authors.forename: Hugh W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Jacob M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schachter